The Department of Residence is increasing room rates considerably for the coming year. Normally, this increase would be seen as an unnecessary burden on ISU students.

However, in this case the increase is a wise move. The Department of Residence is responding to an increased demand for student housing as well as calls for improvements in the residence halls.

Most residence halls will see a 7.6 percent increase. According to Randy Alexander, the rates are necessary to continue the improvements in student housing, such as the suites under construction in the Union Drive Association. The first stage of those suites are slated for completion in the fall.

However, Maple Hall will represent the largest increase at 7.8 percent. Residents in Knapp and Storms halls will not face any rate increases in the coming year. This is an example of capitalism making sense.

If anything, students should be paid by the Department of Residence to live in Knapp and Storms halls. Those students live in the halls that are maintained just enough to be safe until they can be razed – in case you were wondering, the fences encircling the base of the buildings are to keep the concrete chunks falling off the side from hitting and maiming an unsuspecting pedestrian.

There was some debate as to the fairness of increasing rates in other halls but not in Knapp and Storms, but it certainly makes sense.

Department of Residence Director Alexander argued that because there is an increased demand for Maple Hall’s nicer living conditions, the increase is greater for its residents. Alexander said there are hundreds more requests for Maple Hall. The living conditions of Knapp and Storms are so mediocre there should be no other consideration.

Why should someone living at Towers be forced to pay increases comparable to someone at Maple Hall, when the quality of living is far less?

It is also true that without these increases, the current building plans and projects will be delayed and may not even be completed. Alexander said, “for the next several years we have a lot more funds invested than usual.” The new complex in the Union Drive Association is an example of one of those investments, Alexander said.

In this instance, the Department of Residence has chosen the correct path. It makes sense that those who choose to live in nicer housing should pay more for those accommodations. If a lot of the renovations and improvements are put into certain halls, those halls should have higher room rate increases.

For those living in average or unimproved conditions in Knapp-Storms, the department has wisely decided not to raise its fees.

It is only fair that if these raises have to be made, as the Department of Residence claims, they be done in a way that’s fair to students depending on where they live.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Charlie Weaver, Omar Tesdell